


Leaving

by sarcastic_fi



Series: The Secret (Family) Life of John Sheppard [6]
Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-04-17
Updated: 2012-04-17
Packaged: 2017-11-03 20:25:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/385569
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarcastic_fi/pseuds/sarcastic_fi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>John is recruited for the Pegasus mission</p>
            </blockquote>





	Leaving

All John wants is to call Rodney up and tell him of the day he’s been having, or better yet just go home. But the hell of it is, even if John could find a cell phone that could reach Rodney, a hundred confidentiality clauses stands between them and the truth.

 

To say that Antarctica is cold is an understatement, but it wasn’t like John was dressing for minus temperatures this morning when he pulled on his standard issue BDUs, black tee and combat jacket before leaving his Colorado house for the Mountain. He thought he was being brought here to ferry people from McMurdo out to the Ancient Outpost, or at least that was what he ha assumed from Dr Jackson’s vague murmurs of ‘we need you for your special abilities’. John had figured helicopters. Instead he found himself being asked to sit in a strange looking chair that lit up and showed him the milky way in holographic form. His ‘did I do that?’ was accompanied by a round of applause and the sight of Dr Beckett melting with relief. The fate of two galaxies would no longer have to rest on his shoulders, and John couldn’t blame the doctor for being glad of that fact.

 

“I could make it an order?” the General – who seems to have a good sense of humour despite the insignia on his Air Force uniform – suggests to him.

 

John thinks, I could quit, but he doesn’t say this out loud because he knows O’Neill isn’t going to make it an order.

 

John finally gets to return to Colorado, but only after hearing the ‘you can save the world’ speech a second time from Dr Elizabeth Weir.

 

There is a tension in the house that night, an John’s not sure if its something he brings home with him or the result of domestic bliss not living up to it’s name. Whatever it is, John waits until after they have fed, bathed, and put the three offspring to bed before telling Rodney. He starts with “there’s this mission,” and ends with “fuck you, McKay” over an hour later. He grabs a bag and storms out of the house. It’s not the worst argument they had ever had, but John knows it could be the most damaging. Rodney just doesn’t understand that John is Air Force, and that he wants to save the world so Rodney and the kids can live in peace, so they never have to know the fear that so many children on planets that John had visited through the gate had on their faces an in their hearts. Rodney has always known that John wanted to get his twenty in with the Air Force before retiring, and he had a few more years yet. As far as John was concerned going to Atlantis was no more dangerous than any other mission he had been sent on. They all came with a risk of possible death, it was just this one came with the chance to do something truly amazing, not just for his country, but for his planet.

 

He decides his fate with a flip of a coin, leaving for Atlantis feeling like he was doing the right thing. For the longest time he pretends that this is just like any other mission – despite life-sucking-vampires and psychic ships. He pretends that all he has to do to get home is stay alive long enough.

 

The day he starts to doubt it he digs out the dog-eared photograph of Meredith that had kept him sane in Afghanistan. He pins it up, and when Ford asks who she is, John tells her she is the reason he is doing this.


End file.
